The Winter Meetings will be held next week at the San Diego Manchester Hyatt and it’s hard to predict what might happen during the four-day event.
On the surface, it seems that the meetings could be an action-packed affair. Many key free agents remain unsigned and some big names are being floated in trade rumors.
However, the Winter Meetings take on a personality of their own each year. Some years, there are of plenty transactions. Then in other years, the highlight might be the hiring of an assistant trainer.
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Here is a look at three storylines:
Will franchise faces be moved?
The Boston Red Sox could trade right fielder Mookie Betts. While it might seem preposterous on the surface to deal the 2018 American League MVP, new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has reasons to make a move.
Red Sox ownership would like Bloom to lop around $30 million off the payroll so the team can get under the luxury tax threshold in 2020. Betts is projected to make approximately $28 million this winter through the arbitration process.
Furthermore, Betts is eligible for free agency at the end of next season and has made it clear he wants to shop himself on the open market next winter.
Plenty of teams would love to have Betts but the chatter around baseball is that the most likely landing spot could be the Los Angeles Dodgers. They have seven straight National League West titles but no World Series crowns since 1988 and the pressure is mounting to end that drought.
Financially reasons could spur the Cleveland Indians to trade shortstop Francisco Lindor. He has two years remaining before he can reach free agency, but Indians ownership has already privately conceded it won’t be able to sign Lindor to a long-term extension.
Lindor’s value would seemingly be at its peak now as a team trading for him would have the four-time All-Star under contractual control for both 2020 and 2021. While the New York Yankees need starting pitching, their front office is said to be enamored with Lindor.
Where will top pitchers land?
It is easy to connect some dots when it comes to the top two free agent starting pitchers.
Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg are both from Southern California; Cole lives in Orange County and Strasburg reside in the San Diego suburbs.
Thus, San Diego would seemingly the perfect place for agent Scott Boras to seal deals for both clients and hold extravagant introductory press conferences. After all, most of the nation’s baseball media will be on hand.
Cole signing with the Los Angeles Angels and Strasburg with the hometown Padres would make for great theatre. Alas, it is starting to look the Yankees will outbid everybody for Cole while Strasburg’s heart is said to remain with the Washington Nationals.
Will anyone notice the Orioles are there?
Orioles General Manager Mike Elias doesn’t figure to be making an appearance at the podium in the media workroom next week.
Elias might have already made what will be his biggest move of the winter Wednesday when he traded Dylan Bundy to the Los Angeles Angels for four minor league pitchers.
The highlight of the meetings for the Orioles will likely be the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday morning. They have the second pick and will try to find a keeper among the pool of unprotected talent.
It should be noted that carrying a Rule 5 pick in the major leagues all season become a bit easier next year when the roster limit expands by one to 26.
One possibility for the Orioles is infielder Andy Ibanez, a 26-year-old, who hit .300/.375/.497 with 20 home runs in 121 games for the Texas Rangers’ Class AAA Nashville farm club last season.
John Perrotto has been a professional sports writer since 1982 and has covered a multitude of sports, including MLB, NFL and college football and basketball. He has been a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association since 1988, a Hall of Fame voter since 1997 and has covered 21 World Series and two Super Bowls. He is a graduate of Geneva College, the birthplace of college basketball, and lives in Beaver Falls, Pa., the hometown of Joe Willie Namath. He also writes The Perrotto Report (theperrottoreport.com), newsletters that concentrate on Major League Baseball and the Pittsburgh Pirates.